Cu intercalation and field-driven filament formation in vertically aligned MoS2 memristors
Abstract
Vertically-aligned MoS2 films paired with a Cu top electrode have been used as electrochemical metallization cell memristor devices. The memristive switching has been attributed to the formation of conductive filaments, yet their exact structure has remained elusive. Here we carry out a multi-scale computational study of Cu intercalation, clustering, and field-driven dynamics to eventually model the filament formation under operating conditions. We use density-functional theory results to fine-tune a machine learning force field, and the most important physical phenomena are further distilled into multi-particle kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. By exhaustive enumeration of Cu intercalated structures, we find the most stable structure at MoS2Cu0.11 composition, with Cu atoms forming a dice lattice between the MoS2 layers. These structures are shown to exhibit metallic character and can thus form conductive filaments under memristor operation. The simulated switching speed and threshold voltage agree well with the available experimental data. Our results give fundamental insights on the device operation mechanism and guidelines for maximizing switching speed and endurance.
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BibTeX
@misc{lehenkari2026intercalation,
title = {{Cu intercalation and field-driven filament formation in vertically aligned MoS$_2$ memristors}},
author = {Touko Lehenkari and Hannu-Pekka Komsa},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.37152},
eprint = {2610.37152},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.37152},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Cu intercalation and field-driven filament formation in vertically aligned MoS_2 memristors
AU - Touko Lehenkari
AU - Hannu-Pekka Komsa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.37152
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.37152
AB - Vertically-aligned MoS_2 films paired with a Cu top electrode have been used as electrochemical metallization cell memristor devices. The memristive switching has been attributed to the formation of conductive filaments, yet their exact structure has remained elusive. Here we carry out a multi-scale computational study of Cu intercalation, clustering, and field-driven dynamics to eventually model the filament formation under operating conditions. We use density-functional theory results to fine-tune a machine learning force field, and the most important physical phenomena are further distilled into multi-particle kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. By exhaustive enumeration of Cu intercalated structures, we find the most stable structure at MoS_2Cu_0.11 composition, with Cu atoms forming a dice lattice between the MoS_2 layers. These structures are shown to exhibit metallic character and can thus form conductive filaments under memristor operation. The simulated switching speed and threshold voltage agree well with the available experimental data. Our results give fundamental insights on the device operation mechanism and guidelines for maximizing switching speed and endurance.
ER -